My trip to Tikehau and French Polynesia

A few months back I posted a thread seeking information on where to fish in Tahiti and what rods/reels to use. I'm happy to report back now with my findings and pay some information forward. (although probably useless and already known by most). We were in Tahiti last March-April and I didn’t bring my rod with me because it was only a 5 night trip, but this time we were there for 17 days so I knew I could "sneak" in some fishing time and had the prior "approval" from the GF to do so. I was able to buy a Sage One 8wt and paired it with the Ross Momentum LT. I lined the whole rig with 8wt SA Bone Fish mastery backed with 200yards of orange Dacron 30lb just in case I hooked into that 12lb-15lb that are common there., or so I thought. In the unlikely event my reel failed(and it didn’t) I brought my trusty Lamson Litespeed 3.5 lined with the same 8wt SA bonefish mastery but backed with chartreus Dacron 200 yards of 20lb. I brought about 75 or so various flies about 15 leaders varying in length and test lbs. Some Orvis Mirage tippet and some other things all packed in my Simms Dry Creek Flats pack acquired from Phil Fravel on this board.

I’m going to cut to the fishing part right now so I don’t piss you off hoping later on to see a picture of a huge bonefish OR think you missed the part where I elaborate on all the fish I caught. With every intention of fishing every day, I was gently reminded that this was a trip for the both us together, not a “Nathan’s fly fishing trip” . So with that in mind, I caught a few fish, around 20-25, I caught a nice tan and a good buzz on occasion. I also re-captured the feelings I got when I first met my girlfriend almost three years ago which was far more important to me than spending the hours out on the flats alone. So no, you won’t see pictures of the bonefish, the parrot fish, the trigger fish or the baby black tip reef sharks, but you will see the pictures of some of what Tahiti has to offer and specifically Tikehau which is an atoll just west of Rangiroa and now my favorite place I’ve been so far.

Okay so on with this fishing report if my sappiness didn’t cause you to click the red “X” in the upper corner of the screen.

Tikihau (333km north of Papeete, Tahiti) has great flats but must be accessed by kayak or private boat in between the motu’s, in my case a kayak provided by the resort. Plenty of fish, but the bones, I found out, are over in Rangiroa,(8-15km east) so not much luck with that. Tons of sharks gliding by you paying you no mind, ranging from as small as 2 feet long on up to 5-6 feet in length. Plenty of sting rays, moray eels and in the deeper parts of the lagoon manta rays. Countless numbers of small reef fish, as Jacque Cousteau once said that Tikehau has more fish than all of French Polynesia. HUGE trigger fish and I was lucky enough to catch a marbled grouper that I found out was extremely rare due to the locals over fishing and supporting the main island of Tahiti. I asked to throw it back but my guide insisted that we keep it. (it was considered an insult for some reason.).It was way too big for my GF and I to eat so we gave it to him so he could feed his family and a few of his friends.

Here are a few pictures I have taken off my camera but with over 1,000 taken, I still have plenty more to sort through and a lot of hours of video to edit into a three or four minute clip. I will post these as I find the time.

So - what is the name of the resort you stayed at in the last picture? I have a 35th anniversary coming up and that looks like the perfect place.

Click to expand...

Ooops, I should have mentioned it somewhere. It's the Tikehau Pearl Beach Resort. We stayed in the Beach bungalow and then an Overwater Suite. I'll throw some better pictures up in the near future. Check out what tripadvisor says about them. I gave them a great review just the other day (TwistedChimp)

Ooops, I should have mentioned it somewhere. It's the Tikehau Pearl Beach Resort. We stayed in the Beach bungalow and then an Overwater Suite. I'll throw some better pictures up in the near future. Check out what tripadvisor says about them. I gave them a great review just the other day (TwistedChimp)

We both thought the food was great and reasonably priced considering the remote location. I love raw fish so eating the local dish Poisson Cru was probably my favorite meal(s).

Here's a video I slapped together. The resort's in order were the Manava Suites in Papeete, The Pearl Resort in Moorea, The Hilton Moorea, The Pearl Beach resort in Tikehau and then back at the Manava in Papeete, Tahiti.